Pakistan Press On Pakistan and Saudi Arabia-UAE Dynamics and Army Public School Peshawar: New Age Islam's Selection, 17 December 2020
By New Age Islam Edit Desk
17 December 2020
• Pakistan And Saudi Arabia-UAE Dynamics
By Inam Ul Haque
• In Loving Memory of Our Army Public School Peshawar,
Heroes
By Anum Siddique
• If Pakistan Has To Change Society, It Needs To
Change Men, Not Women.
By Kamila Hyat
• East Pakistan: A Stolen Victory
By Shahrukh Mehboob
• Forty-Nine Years On
By S Qaisar Shareef
-----
Pakistan and Saudi Arabia-UAE Dynamics
By Inam Ul Haque
December 16, 2020
Alot has happened, at least in the perceptual domain, since
August 27, 2020, when I wrote “The imperatives of Pak-Saudi relations”,
published in this space. And perceptions are critical to any relationship.
Then… the interdependent nature of our historic and deep-rooted ties was
emphasised. However, in the past six months, there have been some defining
developments that would continue to underpin Pak-Saudi bilateral ties as long
as Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) holds the reins of the kingdom.
First development concerns Saudi financial package. The $6.2
billion package included $3 billion in cash assistance (with 3.2% interest
payable); and $3.2 billion in deferred payment for annual oil and gas supply.
The package was for one year with a roll-over option for three years. The
kingdom has demanded its money ($3 billion) ahead of the schedule. The oil
facility stands suspended.
Pakistan repaid $1 billion to the kingdom in May this year
after securing an equal amount in loan from China. And now China has again
agreed to provide $1.5 billion, enabling Pakistan to repay the remaining Saudi
debt. Pakistan was to retire $1 billion this week. The remaining $1 billion is
due in January 2021. The way this issue has been handled, is not pretty.
The second issue concerns worker visas. Though the Saudi
Ambassador did clarify last week that the kingdom was deporting all workers —
irrespective of nationality — who did not have valid documents; Pakistanis
would be disproportionately affected. And if you combine the UAE’s recent denial
of visit visas to tourists from some 13 mostly Muslim majority nations
including Pakistan, the move creates perceptual misunderstandings.
The third development is the six-day UAE (December 9-10) and
KSA (December 13-14) visit by Gen Manoj Mukund Naravane, the Indian Army Chief;
the first such visit by an Indian army chief. Gen Naravane’s visit took place
immediately after the Indian External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar’s trips to
UAE and Bahrain.
Understandably, India imports 18% of its crude oil requirements
from the kingdom, which is India’s fourth-largest trading partner after China,
the US and Japan. Both UAE and Saudi Arabia consider India as a major energy
consumer and are building a massive $42 billion petrochemical plant in
Maharashtra. The Gulf region hosts around 8.5 million Indian workers, with more
than 2.7 million in Saudi Arabia alone. Almost 30% of UAE’s total population
comprises Indians.
Assertive diplomacy by PM Modi has altered perceptions to an
extent where his overtly anti-Muslim policies raise no eyebrows in the Gulf.
The Modi government has actively wooed the kingdom, UAE, Oman, Bahrain, and
Kuwait. After assuming office in 2014, Modi has visited the GCC countries eight
times; UAE thrice and Saudi Arabia twice.
In October 2019, during his Saudi visit, both countries
decided to establish the Strategic Partnership Council (SPC); India being the
fourth country having strategic partnership with the kingdom after the UK,
France, and China. This fits well with the kingdom’s “Vision-2030” roadmap to
diversify its economy and better utilise the Khaleeji or Gulf capital, rather
than keeping it in Western banks. The kingdom and UAE feel that India is better
placed to economically help them given her size, resources and industrial
potential.
Militarily, Saudi Arabia and India have formed a Joint
Committee on Defence Cooperation (JCDC) with delegation-level visits since
2018. The Royal Saudi Armed Forces officers are to train at Indian defence
training institutes. Joint exercises have commenced alongside port calls and
plans for joint production of spare parts for naval and land systems.
With UAE, India has a Joint Defence Cooperation Committee
(JDCC). Regular joint exercises, visit exchanges, port calls and talks on
defence manufacturing and space exploration are underway. India, UAE navies
conducted a joint exercise, ‘Gulf Star I’ off the UAE coast in 2018. Their air
forces have conducted joint exercises like ‘Desert Eagle II’ at the Al Dhafra
Air Base in Abu Dhabi. UAE has shown interest in the Indian military equipment
like surface-to-air Akash missile and anti-ship BrahMos cruise missile, besides
investment in India’s defense sector such as unmanned platforms, shipbuilding,
armoured vehicles, munitions and small arms.
The trio actively collaborates on counterterrorism,
intelligence-sharing and coordination.
The continued Saudi/UAE bonhomie with India is construed as
hedging against Pakistan. And the “perceived” chasm is linked to Saudi/UAE
resentment of Pakistan’s stand-offish Iran policy. Both also accuse Islamabad
which — despite liberal financial assistance by Riyadh — did not keep its
pledge to “protect Saudi territory” by not militarily joining the Saudi war in
Yemen. Details were covered in my article, “The Saudi pivot, Pakistan and
Kashmir — is there a chasm?” published in this newspaper on August 12 this
year.
The Saudi-UAE combine is also ostensibly wary of the
“Erdogan-effect” on Pakistan. After assuming power in 2002, Recep Tayyip
Erdogan has visited Pakistan four times. There is growing cultural, defence and
diplomatic cooperation between Pakistan and Turkey.
In my August 26 article, I optimistically wrote; “Who knows,
an Indo-Saudi warming up may augment Pakistan’s stance on Kashmir.” FM
Qureshi’s statement in Beijing after the second round of China-Pakistan Foreign
Ministers’ Strategic Dialogue (August 20-21) was construed as a pressure tactic
for the Saudi/UAE-dominated OIC to admonish India on Kashmir.
Consequently, the declaration after the 47th Session of the
Council of Foreign Ministers at Niamey, Niger (November 27-28, 2020) reiterated
“… the OIC’s principled position on Jammu and Kashmir dispute”, calling for
peaceful resolution according to the relevant UNSC resolutions. The outcome
document in a comprehensive and strongly-worded resolution, included almost all
points that Pakistan has been emphasising vis-à-vis Kashmir.
So the strands of Saudi policy gleaned from the above facts
smack of a ‘carrot and stick approach’ wherein Saudi Arabia under its Crown
Prince — who is in a hurry to redefine the regional order — simultaneously
hedges against Pakistan and inclines to pro-Pakistan dynamics.
Though the historic constants of Pak-Saudi bilateralism —
like religious affinity, Pakistan being the kingdom’s strategic depth,
interdependence, military ties, etc — are in place, these are on hold due to a
changed Saudi threat perception. Iran has replaced Israel in the Saudi/UAE
threat perception and Israel brings India to the equation. India for its part
would like to reduce its oil imports from Iran under the prevailing situation;
and given the series of Israeli recognitions, the Saudi-UAE combine would like
to rope in India that is closer to Israel.
A Saudi Arabia not sure of its place in the Biden
administration is naturally frustrated. Loss of US reliability under Trump and
Biden’s stated tough stance leaves the kingdom to look for alternatives.
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2276229/pakistan-and-saudi-arabia-uae-dynamics
-----
In Loving Memory of Our Army Public School Peshawar,
Heroes
By Anum Siddique
December 16, 2020
December has started, wrapped by freezing cold; days are
flint-grey still…!! hidden behind the scene of smog. What I am able to gaze
outside from windowpane, the shadow of skyrocketing buildings and naked trees.
I was completely wondered how everything look likes calm, the only voice my
ears were able to listen the steps crunching on dead leaves by school going
children. Black-capped birds were not singing and sitting on bare trees because
all flowers have been plucked and uncovered trees may not inspire you rather
makes you miserable and sad.
December has begun; its arrival always takes me 6 years back
and reminds the incidence of Army Public School Peshawar. It was the most
horrifying day in the history of Pakistan which left deep scars on our souls.
It is commonly said, that time heals every wound but after passing 6 years the
wound is still raw with the same pain and we are as grieved as were day first.
It was a bleak cold morning in Pakistan; sun was dull and veiled in icy fog. I
exactly kept in my mind. it was Tuesday” an ill-fated day” 16 December 2014
when more than 141 citizen including innocent children and dedicated teachers
were given the blood bath. if today we see those clips on our TV screen and
take glance of that deadliest attack, our heart jumps to our mouth, we feel
shiver from head to heel. Now imagine for a minute the sentiments of those
martyrs’ mothers whose children went to school on their feet and came back on
other’s shoulder.
This bloodiest attacked not only shook the nation but the
entire world. No word can describe the mental ignominy of their households. All
words of condemnation are failed in front of this atrocious attack of coward
extremists. They did not think even for a single minute before opening the fire
on innocent souls, who would have never think in their dreams that they were
inhumanly killed in broad day light. The pictures of innocent angles in uniform
filled with blood and their bodies riddled with bullets were the evidence of
their defenselessness and helplessness.
Six years have gone, but still it’s hard to pen down the
feelings of their parents. Everything is same, nothing looks have to alter at
their homes; their parent’s hoping and waiting for justice to be provided, so
they could sleep with calm mind. Even with empty arms and moaning eyes, their
mothers singing cradle songs for their children. We cannot even understand the
one percent of their sorrow; they all are experiencing the extreme melancholy
which is heavier than the mountain.
Khaula Bibi
Who knew, six years old Khaula is going to school but will
never come back. Yes it was her first day at school. She was extraordinary
excited at last she has joined her siblings’ school but unfortunately it has
become her last day of life. With hopeful eyes, Khaula’s mother still stared on
the door that perhaps one day this door would be unlock and her daughter step
in and give her a tight long hug. While from deep inside her heart is aware, it
is just a dream which can never turn into reality.
Shahzad Ijaz
Shahzad Ijaz was the student of 8th class. He wanted to join
air force as a flying officer. He was inspired by Shaheed Rashid Minhas. He was
fond of collecting pictures of new air combat and fighter planes. In an
interview his father told to media, on the day of attack Shahzad woke up early
and saw his new dress was not properly organized which made him bit angry. He
said to his mother hang my new dress in hanger in a proper way. This new dress
brought for his interview of PAF collage but in the end he could not appear for
the interview. He had secured 90 percent
marks in test, result came after his passing one week.
Usama Tahir
Usama was 16-year-old motivated guy who had huge wish to
join Pakistan army and served his homeland. he was an exceptionally polite and
kind hearted boy who was beloved by his parents and friends as well. He had
strong conviction that militancy only can be removed by spreading education. He
received several medals in table tennis and cricket. Additionally, his mother
revealed that he liked chicken Karachi too much. Therefore, she always tried to
make it possible her son never be disappointed on dining table.
Aimal Khan
Aimal Khan was 18 years old soft-hearted boy. He always
remained worried for those poor labors that compelled to sleep on footpaths. He
always showed compassion and sympathy towards deprived segment of the society.
Apart from the good human being he was full of talent. He was famous for his
car sketches that get viral on internal and received huge appreciation from the
people. He had special interest in cars, he had renovated few cars with
innovative style. His décor on car’s rim and seats paid him a handsome amount
of money. According to his parents he was a very gentle child, they had never
received any single complain of his son.
It is impossible to visualize how hard has become life for
their parents, how difficult for them to breathing with dead dreams? Every
parents holds same question in their soggy eyes, “Why our innocent kids have
been selected to slaughter”? These are
just few stories among 144. To listen those stories, One must have stone
instead of heart in his chest, but we are not daring enough to write and read
them.
In spite of a huge armed operation Rad-ul-Fassad and
Zarb-e-Azab in response to 16 December, but the extremists’ groups of Taliban
continue to increase frequently assisted suicide attacks and other terrorist
assault across the Pakistan. The philosophy of Terrorism is growing rapidly due
to few Taliban Groups constantly to be tolerated by the Government. Subsequent
to APS attack on 16 December 2014, a 20 point came into sight National Action Plan,
a list of indicator what required to be done on urgent basis, approved by both
political parties and civil-armed leadership. Unfortunately, this strategy did
not work effectively and could not provide justice by hanging those culprits
publically. Policy makers should re analyzes the existing policy and find out
the loopholes which was the reason of failure. on the other hand, at individual
level we need to stop indecisive on the matter of terrorism and take a hard
decision to tackle this threat that put in danger the future of our nation.
With the fresh wound and moist eyes, I will just pray “May
such kind of incident never happened again on this planet”.
https://dailytimes.com.pk/702450/in-loving-memory-of-our-heroes/
------
If Pakistan Has To Change Society, It Needs To Change
Men, Not Women
By Kamila Hyat
December 17, 2020
After the Senate passed a bill, which would allow men to
take one-month paternity leave with full pay after the birth of a child, there
has been greater attention on the issue of paternity in the country. The bill
has now been approved by a standing committee in the National Assembly, and
could go before the president for a final signature very soon.
The question is: how many men will avail of this new law? It
is true that in many Scandinavian and other countries, men do take paternity
leave. It is now a norm to see the father opting to take care of the new-born
while the mother continues work. But this is unlikely to happen anytime soon in
Pakistan. It seems that child care, like other household tasks, is something
seen as purely the concern of the women in the family and not a question that
men should address in any way. This is perhaps one of the reasons why housework
is considered a low priority job. And housewives are forced into admitting,
almost as if it were a crime, that they are 'merely' housewives (or
home-makers).
Housework, of course, can be extremely arduous – all the
more so when this is combined with rearing children, and dealing with all the
many related concerns and issues, including that of schooling, health and
related matters. Yet, men rarely come into the picture. This in itself is a
signal that something is amiss with our society. While men claim they are too
busy earning for families, the fact is that even President Obama during his
eight years in power made it a point to take time off daily to spend time with
his two daughters, talk to them and act as a normal family. While his girls
were young, he read stories to them and spent as much time as he could with the
growing family.
In our country, few men consider family or children more
important than work. Most leave them entirely to mothers. And this, of course,
is a pattern that extends further. It may be part of the reason why there's so
much disrespect for women, or why the rate of rape, gang-rape and other crimes
directed against them is so high. We hear of new crimes on almost a daily
basis. And, according to the figures available, at least four rapes are
committed each day, somewhere in the country. This is far too many.
The attitude of the police is even worse and fits in with
the broader misogyny which is seen in many places, including talk shows on TV
and also online, where, under the pretence of liberalism, there is a gentle
attitude that women should not adopt certain behaviours, and restrict
themselves far more than men.
We need to bring up our sons better. This has to be
something that parents are made aware of. There's no reason why boys should be
allowed to roam freely into the night, while girls are restricted from doing
the same. It is true society is a more dangerous place for women. But it is
dangerous because of the behaviour of boys and men and the attitudes they hold
towards women. If boys were taught from a young age, to respect girls, to be
polite, to be careful about addressing them and to treat them as equals, the
rate of rape and other crimes directed against women including domestic
violence may fall.
The example set by the government is not a good one either.
One comment after the other, which is misogynist and directly aimed at hurting
women comes from ministers and other members of the government. We have seen
this in the attacks on Maryam Nawaz Sharif and on other women in politics. Even
TV anchorpersons who happen to be female have been made the victims of
chauvinistic jokes, some of them in the most ill taste and repeatedly targeted
simply on the basis of their gender.
If we have to change society, we need to change men, not
women. There's little purpose in putting women in white ‘dupattas’ or insisting
that they stay at home when so many women face violence at home. And we hear
account after account of little girls being molested or subjected to severe
sexual abuse within what should be the safety of their homes. This is the truth
we must face. The only solution is to bring boys up in a different way; to
teach them that housework is something that everyone in the house should
participate in, in one way or the other; that sisters are equal to brothers;
that women may be different to men in some ways, but are still their equals.
This is also a part of our religion.
The example should be set by leaders of the country and
others who are prominent within it including clerics and celebrities of various
kinds. Television dramas, which attempt to show the problems women face, have
been condemned as being somehow obscene or unsuitable for our society. Nothing
could be further from the truth. Such depiction of reality is necessary to
bring home the truth. We should also understand that there is nothing wrong
with women taking up public roles, as Maryam Nawaz Sharif has done. Other women
have done the same before her, including Benazir Bhutto and others at a local
level.
Indeed, we have a situation where girls outperform boys in
many fields, including academics at all levels. Again, the reason for this may
lie with the fact that there's more pressure on girls to perform well at school
or face a possible withdrawal from education by their parents. Boys do not face
the same level of pressure. Indeed, parents are often content to allow them to
roam the streets, the rich in fast cars, the poor on their motorbikes and
indulge in whatever behaviour they see as the norm and whatever the attitudes
are pushed forward by their peers. This needs to change.
Taking part in housework, beginning at an early age, is one
tool to change the manner in which boys learn to grow up. Only the most
cowardly men attack women or make jokes directed towards them. The more
confident, the more intelligent and those who are well brought up refrain from
doing so and as such, create for women a better place to live as well as a
society which is more united and more equal at all levels.
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/759716-bringing-up-boys
------
East Pakistan: A Stolen Victory
By Shahrukh Mehboob
December16, 2020
India stole a victory from Pakistan in 1971 at Dacca. As the
people watched petrified with grief, the Armed Forces begged for battle and
continuation of the struggle; they were prepared to offer a sacrifice of their
very lives to save the integrity and honor of their country. Their commanders,
however, whose weak wills had been conquered, abjectly and ignominiously,
surrendered. The top brass of the time had ascended to high command, in spite
of character defects caused by lust, greed cowardice, and a host of other
similar weakness that plagued them, besides their astonishing lack and
ignorance of our nation’s cultural values and stunning professional
incompetence.
The system that let them ascend must, therefore, be examined
by those who are responsible, the Government and the Armed Forces themselves,
in order to avoid more catastrophes. However, such catastrophes as the one of
1971 are not the acts of a few individuals like Yahya, Niazi, etc, who may be
conveniently utilized as scapegoats to wish away the collective guilt and let
all others absolve themselves of it, feel smug, satisfied and happy, and
consider all would be well in the future. Not so, in fact, the Armed Forces
rank and file, the junior officers, the field officers, and each citizen of
this Country, all need to carry out a profound and honest introspection as to
what they did at the time to augment the nation’s strength, to maintain its
integrity and retain its freedom. The resultant analysis is bound to bring home
our individual shortcomings, lapses, and share of responsibility for the
debacle.
India did not win the war, Pakistan lose it by default
In East Pakistan, even though Maulana Bhashani spoke for the
peasants of the province, it was Sheikh Mujib, who, after raising his Six-Point
Programme in 1966 for democracy and greater provincial autonomy, and who was
implicated (but later released) in the Agartala Conspiracy Case in 1968, was
fast emerging as the main voice of East Pakistani/Bengali nationalism when Ayub
was forced out.
It is important to state that while some Bengali voices were
challenging the unity of Pakistan, Mujib, at this political juncture, was still
in favor of a united, democratic, federal Pakistan, despite the growing
realization in the eastern wing that East Pakistan became a mere colony of West
Pakistan. Under these circumstances, led by charismatic and populist leaders
who had sat through 11 years of military rule, Yahya Khan announced elections
for October 1970, doing away with the One Unit, giving the majority province on
the basis of its population 162 seats in a parliament of 300. The 1970 election
results went further in confirming these fears. Sheikh Mujib’s Awami League won
160 of the 162 seats in East Pakistan, giving it a majority in united
Pakistan’s parliament. Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party won 81 seats out of 138
in West Pakistan, becoming the majority party in West Pakistan, mainly from
Sindh and Punjab. The critical outcome from the 1970 elections was that neither
of the two largest parties won a single seat in the other wing. Electorally,
Pakistan stood divided. While the military’s Operation Searchlight in East
Pakistan started in March 1971, the short period following the elections until
the brutal military operations, clearly showed how the egos of a handful of
West Pakistani politicians played out and were matched with the incompetence
and unwillingness of the military leadership in understanding and addressing
political issues. United Pakistan just might have been saved in these few weeks
had the Punjabi-Muhajir military-bureaucratic leadership allowed the results of
the 1970 elections to be honored. But this would have gone against their very
own genius and their core material interests.
Moreover, there was one particular popular democrat who
refused to acknowledge the democratic mandate which did not entirely suit him.
Soon after the election results, there was talk of having
two prime ministers for Pakistan, with Bhutto apparently having agreed. Yahya,
on the other hand, on a visit to Dhaka, called Mujib the “future prime minister
of Pakistan”. On his return to West Pakistan from Dhaka, Yahya flew to Larkana
to meet Bhutto, who advised Yahya not to give control of the National Assembly,
and, hence, of Pakistan to Mujib. Bhutto flew to Dhaka to meet Mujib but talks
clearly failed between the two leaders.
Eventually, India launched a military attack on East
Pakistan in November, with (West) Pakistan attacking Indian Territory on Dec 3.
Despite the fact that West Pakistanis were told as late as Dec 14 and 15 that
they were winning the war, on Dec 16, 1971, Gen A.A.K. ‘Tiger’ Niazi, GOC, East
Pakistan, surrendered to the Indian troops led by Gen Jagjit Singh Aurora in
Dhaka. East Pakistan formally becomes Bangladesh. Not just had there been yet
another partition in the Indian subcontinent, but Jinnah’s ‘two-nation theory’
had also come undone.
War is defined by Von Clausewitz, “As an instrument of
policy”. The policy in 1971 did not exist because Gen Yahya did not have any
clue about it, resulting in absolutely inappropriate political action. On the
other hand, the Indians won a victory, at least in the technical sense, because
they had recognized the need to win. They have been subjugated for centuries
and desperately needed a victory of sorts to achieve their goal of “Unity in
Diversity”. In 1962, they had been humiliated in the Himalayas by the armed
forces of their great neighbor in the north. Then, in 1965, the numerically
inferior Pakistanis fought them to a standstill. All these factors combined to
make them perceive the need.
The deployment and operations, while further alienating the
people, ignored the actual threat, which was an attack from India in the guise
of a liberator who during the early part of summer had finalized its operational
plans and started preparing thoroughly for a winter onslaught. That there were
many a flaw in their planning as well as execution is of little help to us, as
we had to plan at the national level. Our High Command refused to plan
seriously because they had a readymade excuse: our friends, the USA and China
did not provide sufficient help’. That was enough to allow them to retain power
and indulge in base pursuits. Thus lip service, and only that, was given to
defensive preparation against India.
https://dailytimes.com.pk/702520/east-pakistan-a-stolen-victory/
------
Forty-Nine Years On
By S Qaisar Shareef
December 17, 2020
In recent months there has been an improvement in relations
between Pakistan and Bangladesh. A couple of months ago, Prime Minister Imran
Khan called Bangladesh Prime Minister Mrs Sheikh Hasina, and more recently the
Pakistani ambassador in Dhaka also called on the Bangladesh prime minister.
These moves came as we approached the date of December 16,
which will mark 49 years since the end of the civil war that led to the
declaration of Bangladesh as an independent nation. East Pakistan was no more.
The events leading up to the breakup of Pakistan are too painful to recount.
Suffice it to say there was tremendous suffering on all sides.
The civil war was brought to an end on December 16, 1971
with the incursion of Indian troops into Dhaka. The dream of a unified country
for the Muslims of British India was no more. It took several years before all
the displaced people in Bangladesh who were from the western part of Pakistan
were rejoined with their families in what remained as Pakistan. At the same
time there were about half a million more among the total Bangladesh population
of over 70 million, who were not ethnic Bengali. They were mostly Urdu
speakers, immigrants to East Pakistan from various parts of British India. Over
the years, many of them were able to migrate to Pakistan.
However, about 300,000 of these Urdu speakers were left
behind in Bangladesh. The Pakistan government was unwilling or unable to take
them in. And, being seen as non-Bengali Pakistanis, they were initially not
accepted by Bangladesh. They had become stateless. For their protection, the
International Red Cross housed them in makeshift camps across all of Bangladesh,
most of which continue to exist today. These people – now the third generation
of those who were there in 1971 – are eking out a subsistence living.
These people sometimes came to be referred to as “stranded
Pakistanis”, which created a further hurdle to their acceptance into the
Bangladeshi society. Over the years however, many in the younger generation of
Urdu speakers petitioned the Bangladesh government asking to be recognized as
legal citizens. In an act of magnanimity, the Bangladesh government granted
them citizenship and they were issued official ID cards, along with voting
rights.
A vast majority of these camp dwellers are now well adjusted
into Bangladesh society, with fluent language skills, even though their
economic situation remains precarious. Most camp dwelling families live in
makeshift single room accommodations, with sparse communal sanitation and water
facilities. I visited these camps earlier this year and saw the desperate
situation in camps in Dhaka and Chittagong, but also felt a reason for hope.
Having won Bangladesh citizenship rights, the vast majority
of these people have established themselves as patriotic Bangladeshis. As they
get access to education, the camp dwellers are starting to pull themselves out
of poverty. There is a small number of such people who have close family in
Pakistan. Without jeopardizing their hard-won Bangladesh citizenship rights,
they would greatly benefit from contact with their next of kin in Pakistan.
It is very encouraging to see steps by the Pakistan and
Bangladesh governments to improve relations. The difficult history of the
breakup of the country may take a long while yet to heal, but with goodwill on
both sides progress can be made. Given the current geopolitical shifts in the
region, both countries will benefit from establishing friendly relations.
In the meantime, the families left behind in Bangladesh
deserve the support of both countries, and the assistance of humanitarian
organizations that are able and willing to step up.
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/759718-forty-nine-years-on
-----
URL:
New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism